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Shaun Nichols in California, vnunet.com, Monday 25 February 2008 at 00:00:00

Yahoo chief sends letter calling for pressure on China

Yahoo co-founder and chief executive Jerry Yang has sent a letter asking US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to press the Chinese government to release two jailed dissidents. Yang asked Rice to use her forthcoming trip to China to pressure the government to release journalists Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning. The two journalists were jailed after a Yahoo subsidiary in China handed over user information at the demand of Chinese authorities. The case brought Yahoo scorn from human rights groups worldwide and led to the families of the two men filing a lawsuit against the company in August of 2007 for its part in the incident. The case was settled three months later. Yang addressed the case in his letter to Rice, stating that the company " deeply regrets" the incident. "Yahoo was founded with the purpose of promoting access to information and free expression, and the fact that individuals are in prison because they expressed their ideas online runs counter to Yahoo's core values," wrote Yang. Yahoo vice president and deputy general council Michael Samway said in a company blog posting that Yahoo has worked with both Chinese authorities and human rights groups to get the men released. However, he added that the word of the US government would hold much more sway. "We also recognise the practical limits of corporate diplomacy, especially next to the powerful advocacy tools available to governments," said Samway. "We believe governments have the most leverage to influence the decision making of other governments."

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